{"id":39896,"date":"2024-05-10T09:55:08","date_gmt":"2024-05-09T23:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=39896"},"modified":"2024-05-10T09:55:14","modified_gmt":"2024-05-09T23:55:14","slug":"sinaloa-cartel-breaks-silence-on-aussie-surfer-murders-we-let-them-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=39896","title":{"rendered":"Sinaloa Cartel breaks silence on Aussie surfer murders: \u2018We let them know\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The robbers who killed two Australian brothers and their American friend on a surfing trip in Mexico were handed over to police by the Sinaloa Cartel, a member of the feared criminal organisation has claimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The city of Ensenada, near where the murders occurred, is under the control of a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. Speaking to The Daily Beast<\/em> on the condition of anonymity, a member of the group said the robbers were not part of the cartel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey were low-level robbers acting alone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut we handed them over. We learned that the cops were looking for the gringos and also began looking for those who were responsible. We called the authorities to let them know where to find them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cartel member added that the group was afraid of \u201cunwanted attention\u201d from Mexican authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Callum Robinson, 33, Jake Robinson, 30, and Jack Carter Rhoad, 30, were killed in what Mexican police have characterised as a bungled robbery while they were camping at San Miguel beach, in the Baja California region, after locals attempted to steal the pick-up truck they were driving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jes\u00fas Gerardo has beeb charged over the disappearance. Picture: 7News<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group were reported missing on April 27 when they failed to turn up at an Airbnb they had booked. Their bodies were discovered on the weekend, each shot in the head and stuffed down a 15-metre well hidden on a cliff in a desolate section of Santo Tomas, about seven kilometres from where they were killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The alleged ringleader, Jes\u00fas Gerardo, also known as \u201cEl Kekas\u201d, was arrested earlier this week along with his former partner Ari Gisell and his brother Cristian Alejandro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their surnames have been suppressed according to local laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jes\u00fas Gerardo has been charged with \u201cforced disappearance\u201d. He has not yet entered a plea and the charges are expected to be upgraded to murder in coming days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ari Gisell and Cristian Alejandro have only been charged with drug possession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The woman has since become a key prosecution witness against Jes\u00fas Gerardo, telling the court on Thursday that he told her \u201cI killed them\u201d before handing her a mobile phone and taking her outside to show her the new tyres on her car allegedly stolen from the victims\u2019 truck, the ABC reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Callum and Jake Robinson. Picture: Instagram<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors believe others were involved and have indicated further charges will be laid over the killings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe judge did say that he can\u2019t understand how one sole person could have done this, essentially kidnap and kill three men and take their tyres, it seems like too much,\u201d Nine News correspondent Alison Piotrowski said after Wednesday\u2019s hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe suggested that the prosecution needed to look into more suspects, that they needed to broaden their investigation because it couldn\u2019t have been done by one man alone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to The Daily Beast<\/em>, a Baja California investigator said the tourists were killed after trying to de-escalate a confrontation with the robbers who wanted to steal their truck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were leaving the campsite when a group of men showed up to talk to them and demanded the truck they were driving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe tourists refused and tried to fight back, but the robbers were armed,\u201d the investigator said. \u201cWhen the criminals took out their guns the three [tourists] tried to de-escalate things, but it was too late, they beat the three of them and then shot them in the head.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mexican investigators contacted US authorities in San Diego and obtained the men\u2019s mobile phone numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe tracked down the devices, until one of them was turned on and we had a location,\u201d the investigator said. \u201cThat\u2019s when we found this woman who was in possession of the American\u2019s cellphone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mexican Army members in Culiacan, Sinaloa. Picture: Ivan Medina\/AFP<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this week the parents of Callum and Jake gave a heartbreaking statement from San Diego, California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin and Debra Robinson broke down in tears as they spoke of their sons after travelling to Ensenada to identify the bodies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur hearts are broken and the world has become a darker place for us,\u201d Ms Robinson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe also mourn the loss of Carter Rhoad, a close friend. They were young men enjoying their passion of surfing together. Now it\u2019s time to bring them home to family and friends \u2014 and the ocean waves in Australia. Please live bigger, shine brighter and love harder in their memory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said thanked those who had offered their condolences and said they had been \u201coverwhelmed with the outpouring of emotions and support\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have always been very proud of their academic and sporting achievements and admired their life choices as,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nine News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The robbers who killed two Australian brothers and their American friend on a surfing trip in Mexico were handed over to police by the Sinaloa Cartel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":39899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[664,471,32],"tags":[472,8729,8339,8723],"class_list":["post-39896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mexico","category-news","category-news-and-opinion","tag-australian","tag-mexico","tag-perth","tag-serious-crime"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39896"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39900,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39896\/revisions\/39900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}